Funny how so many equate brand awareness with success. VC money isn’t profit; it’s a bet that maybe there is some potential to be lived up to.

I think that being labeled as old fart is actually nothing but a massive compliment. Who would understand right? Like Bill says, work smarter not harder. I cringe watching the newbies and their techniques.

Not much commentry publically available about these matters, thanks for sharing and caring enough to actually post about it.

“I think you missed the part where I said I’m not that old”

Over 30 with kids in denial about being an Old Fart, tsk tsk. If you don’t think you’re old just ask any group of hot 18 year old girls, assuming they’ll even stand still long enough for you to approach and pose the question as they tend to move away from creepy old men, and the resulting shrill hysterical laughter will confirm your current status.

I am sorely going to miss PubCon…

Take a look at 37Signals as an example. They were the hottest thing online for a while. They did the coolest things, had their frameworks and faces all over Newsweek, and had more fanboys than they knew what to do with. Their blog exploded and eventually so did their heads. A lot of their readers came and went, I’m guessing mostly because their style of explain and justify turned into preach and swallow.

seoMoz is heading down a similar path. Every once in a while there are some really good bits of advice and analysis on their blog. The comments are filled with fanboys expressing their love and dishing out virtual high fives but there really isn’t much else going on. Like 37Signals, they are selling memberships and a little bit of custom work and the idea is to keep people coming back and by dangling that ‘how we do SEO carrot’ out there it seems to be working. For now.

@Marios: You say “Please take up Rand on his offer. Such a meeting could produce some very interesting work and hopefully you’d both be willing to share the output.” I just don’t have that perspective. Thanks for raising it.

@Natasha: You’re making me think I might have subconsciously exercised a little hook humility with my post. No harm done, right? Thanks for the compliment; see you in Vegas.

@rand: Thanks for the offer.. but I’m not one to take off any one else’s glasses! I commented on the comments on seomoz, not seomoz itself. Do you really wear rose colored glasses over there? I thought you were all about transparency ;-)

BTW Alex: I almost went to Techform last night! And quietly, I’ve actually been thinking of my own personal drinking game for Bay Area events - it’s called: Web 2 Point Uh Oh. To play, you take a shot every time you think to yourself “Good luck making money on that” after chatting up someone about their Web 2.0 company. :)

Please take up Rand on his offer. Such a meeting could produce some very interesting work and hopefully you’d both be willing to share the output.

You claim to park your carcass in coffee houses all day and I park mine on a bar stool several days a week and we’re both amazingly making money doing it while the youngsters are scrambling about in offices with bosses breathing down their necks.

Come on, don’t deny it, give into it, it’s because Old Farts work smarter and not harder.

Besides, you are a wee bit of a curmudgeon which is why I like you as we curmudgeons have to stick together!